Read the description. it’s very long.

Question

Aluminum is mined as the mineral bauxite, which consists primarily of Al₂O₃ (alumina). The aluminum can be refined by heating the bauxite to drive off the oxygen: 2Al₂O₃(s) -> 4Al(s) + 3O₂ (g)

part 1-

How much aluminum is produced from 3450 kg of Al₂O₃?

___ kg Al

Part 2-

The oxygen produced in Part 1 is allowed to react with carbon to produce carbon monoxide. Write a balanced equation describing the reaction of alumina with carbon. You need not include the states of matter in the balanced equation.

Part 3-

How much CO is produced from the alumina in Part 1?

___ kg CO

Answer 1

The first thing you want to do in almost any chemistry question is convert to moles.

I. convert to grams first (1 kg=1000g)

3450 kg * 1000 g/1 kg=3450000 g or 3.45*10⁶ g

II. convert to moles ( 1 mol Al₂O₃ = 102 g Al₂O₃ [add up the molar mass of the elements in Al₂O₃, 2*27+16*3])

3.45*10⁶ g * 1 mol Al₂O₃/102 g Al₂O₃= 33823.5 mol Al₂O₃

III. Use the molar ratio in the balanced chemical equation ( 2 mol Al₂O₃-> 4 mol Al)

33823.5 mol Al₂O₃ * 4 mol Al/2 mol Al₂O₃= 67647.1 mol Al

IV. Last, convert from mols back to grams, then to kilograms (1 mol Al=27 g Al, 1000 g/ 1 kg)

67647.1 mol Al * 27 g Al/1 mol Al= 1826470.6 g Al * 1 kg Al/1000 g Al= 1826.5 kg Al Use significant figures to get 1830 kg Al (started with 3 sig figs)

Step 2 This is how we set it up:

_Al₂O₃ + _C -> _Al + _CO

Starting with Aluminum, we try to balance. This is a bit of guess and check.

1Al₂O₃ + _C -> 2Al + _CO

aluminum is balanced, but oxygen is not, so let's adjust:

1Al₂O₃ + _C -> 2Al + 3CO

Everything is balanced except the Carbon:

1Al₂O₃ + 3C -> 2Al + 3CO

It's balanced!

Part 3. This will look a lot like step A

I. convert to grams first (1 kg=1000g)

3450 kg * 1000 g/1 kg=3450000 g or 3.45*10⁶ g

II. convert to moles ( 1 mol Al₂O₃ = 102 g Al₂O₃ [add up the molar mass of the elements in Al₂O₃, 2*27+16*3])

3.45*10⁶ g * 1 mol Al₂O₃/102 g Al₂O₃= 33823.5 mol Al₂O₃

III. Use the molar ratio in the balanced chemical equation ( 1 mol Al₂O₃-> 3 mol CO)

33823.5 mol Al₂O₃ * 3 mol CO/1 mol Al₂O₃= 101470.5 mol CO

IV. Last, convert from mols back to grams, then to kilograms (1 mol CO=28 g CO, 1000 g/ 1 kg)

101470.5 mol CO * 28 g Al/1 mol CO= 2841174 g CO * 1 kg CO/1000 g CO= 2841.2 kg CO Use significant figures to get 2840 kg CO (started with 3 sig figs)

*edited for format, readability)